I apologise for leaving such a huge gap between posts, but anyway...

Running log #005:

I'd finally got used to the feeling of being listened to in the tactical command centre. It was routine now to go up to the bridge of the flagship, report in, and start arguing with people. It was actually fun now. Especially since full command of the Republic fleet was transferred over to a proper Jedi. And this guy wasn't what you would expect of a wartime Jedi Knight. When we heard he was in charge of the enemy forces, we expected it to be exactly the same as before, since everyone thought of Jedi as people who would never fight back, and simply let people whose job it was to lead the army do just that. This general was different. He was a damned exceptional leader. He was whom I now know, years later, to be Lord Revan. He just hadn't become Lord yet.

Anyway, his strategies actually proved challenging to counter, and he'd been getting stronger every battle. By this time, he was very good. And it was now my official job to deal with this, since I was Deputy Assault Lieutenant General, after the previous Dep.ALG had been made full ALG, because the old ALG had become Deputy Campaign Major General, due to the old Dep.CMG becoming the full CMG. All of that happened because the old CMG was Cassus Fett, and he'd had to stay under the radar since his absolutely kandosii display at Jaga's Cluster. And the proper ALG couldn't do it because he'd got shot in the head at that same battle, and the genetic restructuring on his brain was still fresh, meaning he wasn't allowed to think too hard or he would die. Something like that, I never did advanced medical.

Enough backstory. Onto the battle.

The Republic assault started with a strike team of Jedi landing just outside the walls of Iziz. There's no definite explanation of why the turrets on the walls didn't blow them out of the sky as soon as they came in range, but my theory is that there was a slicer working for the Onderonians that managed to neutralise them. It doesn't matter though, because the turrets weren't working, and that's the important part, seeing as the only way of invading the planet is through the only undefended access point due to the malfunction. The strike team then proceeded to use the Force to get themselves onto the walls, where they faced heavy resistance from our shock troopers. This was when Revan ordered one of his absolutely fantastic tactical manoeuvres that would work perfectly against anyone except the Mandalorians, as we were quite clearly stronger than the average military force.

The manoeuvre in question I shall try to explain using as little strategic terminology as possible.

It involved a series of carefully timed distractive troop deployments, with the continuous fighting between the Mandalorian Wall Guard and the original Jedi team being crucial to its success. While this fighting was going on, the Republic sent down additional reinforcements to the wall, creating the illusion that the invasion would start from the walls inward. However, while that was going on and we were expected to reinforce likewise, Revan would send a huge force right into the centre of Iziz, intending to take us at our weakest, yet most valuable, point.

This didn't work. We did indeed send additional forces to the wall, but the fact that we had executive control over the Onderon Military was not included in the calculations of Republic Fleet Command. We ordered General Vaklu to lead his troops in dealing with the Republic forces in the centre, and he took a large part of his forces to the landing site of the invaders.

It turns out that Revan was fine in not having included General Vaklu in his plans, because he betrayed the Mandalorian command, contacted the Iziz Royal Guard, took control of them as well, and they both became known as the Onderon Resistance. It really didn't make me look good having sent a large number of traitors off to the position of most enemy soldiers, as the Republic and the Resistance promptly joined up and started fighting us in the centre of Iziz as well as having Jedi still trying to take the wall.

The Jedi kept coming. Whenever we dealt with a significant number out on the walls, more arrived. In the end, we abandoned the walls and focused on ridding the city itself of hostiles. Fighting retreats are terrible tactics when the people you're retreating from can sense the future, and move to cut you off before you've decided where you're going. So I gave the order to begin evacuation of our warriors, then start orbital strikes against Iziz. Just as I did that, Revan's forces moved into tight-blockade formation around the planet. That meant I couldn't get the Mandalorians out of the planet, and I couldn't bombard the city from above.

It was the final nail in the coffin of a Mandalorian Onderon. Tactically beautiful, but deadly. Certainly the most fun I'd had in months, but we'd lost the battle on my watch. And it finally showed me exactly what Revan was capable of.

Not that I'm one of those short-sighted Mandalorians who worship Revan for beating us. We were outnumbered, and he led an army of Force-Sensitives, and we still made the Republic tremble. I'm going to stop now.

END OF LOG #005

Was it worth the wait?